Stellaris Dev Diary #194: Intel

[King Harkinian]

Do it rock, paper, scissor style. One ascension oath is vulnerable to one while superior to the other.

And please accept the vote of the community. Don't show the homeworld until sufficient intel has been gathered

That is not the vote of the community, do not presume to speak for others. I vote that the homeworld should be one of the first things to become visible. Official exchanges with a different empire will likely take place on the homeworld. Just like in the real world, historically the first thing empires would know about eachother is their capitals. That is also how it works in most Civilization games, for example.

 

[thetick2]

I really like these changes.

How about if the homeworld location is not instantly revealed? Finding the homeworld should be either hard (depending on how hard the civilisation is trying to hide it) or easy (Yeah man, Earth is right...there). As in it should be a policy choice.

Hopefully there will be counters to higher level sensors as well, otherwise you're going to know exactly where to strike your AI opponents and I am not sure they will use that info against you as well as a human would.

Also, looking forward to Disinformation campaigns being played on opposition empires.

 

[Wenla]

Not against machines. Maybe against Hive Minds... maybe?

For machines you will need hacking/hackers...

 

[3Davideo]

In a while. Not "soon".

This is reassuring. I was worried they might do like 2.2 and rush through a holiday release without making sure all the systems worked and all.

 

[Wenla]

I like most exploring stage, so this will make it more interesting.

 

[Alfray Stryke]

What are the black arrows behind the digsites?

Hot code sometimes causes graphical issues.

 

[Tyrannical Prince]

Il like it. It's like a Midgame exploration mechanic.

It also looks like it's a dynamic system which is nice. I have a question, I see that intel can get stale, can intel also go down? As in can an empire become isolationist and deny you more and more information? Effectively making regions of the galaxy "Go Dark"

Also, can empires influence the amount of intel other empires have on you? I see that treaties can raise the floor/increase intel gain rate. Would things like closing your borders to an empire or declaring war lower the ceiling/increase intel loss rate?

And then of course there are things like telepathy/psionics; of course they're going to get bonuses to their intel (not sure in which way) but will telepathy/psionics also provide a defensive intel bonus? making it harder for other empires to gain intel on you (even if they're telepathic/psionic).

 

[Calvax]

Also, can empires influence the amount of intel other empires have on you?

I was wondering this too. Presumably Federations, and maybe vassals, share intelligence, or give each other some sort of buff. Wouldn’t make much sense otherwise to be in an alliance but all sides didn’t share what they knew.

 

[Mindgamer]

Are there plans to support intel sharing or trading? Like there are active sensor links?

Will the AI also respect intel or does it still know everything about you? Is it worthwhile to pursue a gameplay of exposing little data about yourself, against AI-s?

 

[Krein81]

Looks like my next play through will be as the Romulan Empire!

You know this will not go live till late April/early May ,right?

 

[Calvax]

You know this will not go live till late April/early May ,right?

Common curse of this game. Updates that seem good enough to make it difficult to play now lol.

 

[Atreides]

@grekulf - when viewing the information at the left
of the Diplomatic Screen (Sprawl, Colonies, Pops) - could that be changed to function similar to the way you can view divisions/factories from the HOI4 war screen?

So for example, at no Intel they are just a question mark.
At minimal intel, you get a wide range (60 - 600 pops).
At moderate intel, you get an accurate range (150 - 350 pops).
At high intel, you get the number (254 pops).

Knowing exact diplomatic weight with precise breakdown by category is also going to be an issue, but I am guessing you already have plans to deal with that.

 

[UltimateTobi]

Do it rock, paper, scissor style. One ascension oath is vulnerable to one while superior to the other.

And please accept the vote of the community. Don't show the homeworld until sufficient intel has been gathered

Usually I am lazy and just click Agree or Respectfully Disagree (or something else), but can't do that on this one...

I disagree with the former and
agree with the latter (wouldn't call it community vote though. But it was mentioned and I am in agreement with that suggestion).

 

[Breakman42]

Seems strange that knowing where an empires capital is should come at low level intel. It should probably be medium or high level that reveals that. Many empires would wish to keep that secret especially from a new empire. xenophobes or militarists would definitely try to keep that secret always.

would it be possible to change the intel level for certain info based on the target empire's ethics and your own ethics?

 

[Thetazytron]

That is not the vote of the community, do not presume to speak for others. I vote that the homeworld should be one of the first things to become visible. Official exchanges with a different empire will likely take place on the homeworld. Just like in the real world, historically the first thing empires would know about eachother is their capitals. That is also how it works in most Civilization games, for example.

I think it should be a part of the first contact policies whether or not you immediately reveal your homeworld/capital location. Xenophillic/friendly empires will be more likely to behave as you describe whereas xenophobic/isolationist empires might opt to keep that a closely guarded secret and do diplomacy aboard the outpost the Xenos stumbled upon.

 

[mirco297]

This update looks amazing already.
I have a question about Government Intell though.
Will other empires to able to find the locations of my colonies through Intell the same way they discover my Capital location?
Naturally, I would perfer if xeno's don't know where all my people live

 

[Maethendias]

how does it work for the ai viewing the player? or is it not affected by intel?

 

[Saberon]

So far it sounds like a LOT of new micromanagement added. I hope there will be new QoL intel features in place as well, such as spy ships, intelligence networks, good old information sellers (you are absolutely, filthy rich? Don't spy it, buy it!), scientists hacking into enemy networks and computers, and so on.
Also would be good to add ideology bonuses as well, like xenophiles can acquire information a lot easier (you are good at earning the trust!), while xenophobes are really good at hiding their information (they are not going to share their secrets with filthy xenos, not willingly. Especially with you.), etc.

 

[DanielPrates]

That REDACTED thing feels like a espionage/counterespionage thing. Great!

Now listen here devs! You can't miss the opportunity of adding a great mechanic, which is, making the AI less prone to declare wars on enemies they have little intel on. IF there is indeed some mechanic coming along in the lines of building up your intel defenses, that would be a game changer as instead of the ever-present military buildup, an empire could for instance choose to rely on more subtle measures.

 

[Calvax]

Intel Reports
Intel Reports allow you to gain more information in a certain category, on a timed basis. It would be, for example, possible to gain an Intel Report which lasts for 720 days and gives you a High level of Military Intel, whereas otherwise High Military Intel might require you to have 80 Intel on the empire.

Could you give us hints about how these reports are made or is that [REDACTED] and should I report to station security for a [REDACTED] by the [REDACTED]?